1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication networks. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for regulating communications between multiple transmitters and receivers.
2. Related Art
Modern multiprocessor systems typically include multiple computing nodes that communicate with each other through a communication network. In some multiprocessor systems, each one of these multiple nodes can communicate with any other node, but each node can communicate with only one node at any given time. This can potentially cause contention problems because multiple nodes wish to communicate with a common node at the same time, and the common node can communicate with only one node at any given time. Note that this problem exists regardless of the type of communication medium, whether it be optical, electrical, or mechanical.
A number of different systems have been developed to regulate communications between nodes in these multiprocessor systems, and in doing so, to deal with contention problems. Unfortunately, many of these systems have unwanted side-effects. Some are complex and expensive to operate, while others introduce unnecessary delays into the communications process.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for regulating traffic between nodes without the problems described above.